Women's Month Opinion

#WomensMonth: A celebration of women at the 2016 Loeries

As South Africans rejoice the 800m victory of home girl Caster Semenya at the Rio Olympics last night, 20 August 2016, a bunch of trailblazing women have been celebrated at Loeries Creative Week Durban.
Ramiah © Alistair Nicoll/2016 Loerie Awards via Gallo Images
Ramiah © Alistair Nicoll/2016 Loerie Awards via Gallo Images

In a double night for the ladies, respected creative director Suhana Gordhan, who has worked her way through the ranks of award-winning ad agencies such as Ogilvy, JHB, King James and Black River FC, last night took over the coveted mantle of Loeries chair from outgoing Neo Mashigo, while the much-anticipated annual Marketer of the Year award went to Sanlam/Santam brand director Yegs Ramiah.

Ramiah paid tribute to ad agency King James and its ECD Alistair King as having been key to the brand’s success, showing the breakthrough creativity created under her custodianship. In approving breakthrough and even disruptive creative work such as of One Rand Man and One of Kind – which sees people around the world discussing things that makes South Africa unique, such as load shedding, car guards, braais etc - Ramiah shows the kind of courage and integrity deserving of the award.

Tipping point for woman in corporate roles?

Could the 3% of women estimated to be in senior roles worldwide be at a tipping point? The Glass Lion category, announced last year at Cannes, intended to award work that breaks down stereotypical images of gender in advertising. This year influencer and partner in advertising agency Badger Winters, Madonna Badger launched the #WomenNotObjects, campaign requesting people to sign a petition that Cannes Lions may refuse or withdraw entries that objectify or misrepresent women in their marketing communications, to great acclaim.

Loeries is demonstrating that they are taking the above groundswell issues seriously. Apart from the above-mentioned female appointments and awards, at this year’s Loeries DStv Seminar of Creativity no less than five global female creative directors showed their industry clout.

Sarah Personette, former president of Universal McCann in charge of strategy, planning and business development and currently VP for Facebook’s global marketing team.

Bridget Jung, a futurist, considered to be a global expert in advertising brand strategy in her capacity as digital creative director at Marcel in Sydney, Australia.

Debra Mallowah, vice president of personal care at Unilever, Nairobi, Kenya received a standing ovation for her Seminar presentation.

Susan Credle, worldwide chief creative officer of FCB, who has been honoured with many titles among them Chicago Adwoman of the Year 2013 and Advertising Age’s 100 Most Influential Women.

Laura Jordan-Bambach, as co-founder of UK-based Mr President and SheSays, a global creative network for women, has been a pioneer for women’s and gender diversity issues in the creative and digital industries for decades. Bambach shared that she believes empathy to be the most important skill for any creative, saying there is a world full of fantastic ideas, but it’s not full of people with empathy.

From left: Nicci Botha, Bizcommunity group editor; Bev Klein, Bizcommunity marketing and media editor; Laura Jordan-Bambach, creative partner Mr President, London UK; Susan Credle, global chief creative officer, FCB, NY; Pasqua Heard, Bizcommunity editorial assistant; Lauren Hartzenberg, Bizcommunity group editor. Image credit © Terry Levin
From left: Nicci Botha, Bizcommunity group editor; Bev Klein, Bizcommunity marketing and media editor; Laura Jordan-Bambach, creative partner Mr President, London UK; Susan Credle, global chief creative officer, FCB, NY; Pasqua Heard, Bizcommunity editorial assistant; Lauren Hartzenberg, Bizcommunity group editor. Image credit © Terry Levin

Women are innately empathetic. It is showing up in the work of these amazing women, demonstrating that the calls for gender representation and diversity will not just tip the numbers of women in corporate positions for the sake of it, but to also find ways of tipping returns on investment – in people, resources and creative problem-solving.

About Terry Levin

Brand and Culture Strategy consulting | Bizcommunity.com CCO at large. Email az.oc.flehsehtffo@yrret, Twitter @terrylevin, Instagram, LinkedIn.
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